DETROIT _ Whether driving in runs is more of a skill or product of opportunity is open to debate. What cannot be denied is that Albert Pujols has been very good at this part of the game for a very long time.
The Los Angeles Angels slugger notched the 2,000th RBI of his 19-year career with a solo home run to left field in the third inning of Thursday's game against the Detroit Tigers in Comerica Park.
Pujols, 39, who ranks fourth on baseball's all-time RBI list behind Hank Aaron (2,297), Babe Ruth (2,213) and Alex Rodriguez (2,086), slammed a 2-and-0 fastball from left-hander Ryan Carpenter 415 feet into the left-field seats for the 639th homer and 3,107th hit of his career.
The hit, which snapped an 0-for-15 slump and extended the Angels' lead to 6-0, also vaulted Pujols into another exclusive club: He joins Aaron and Rodriguez as the only players in major league history with 600 homers, 3,000 hits and 2,000 RBIs.
"I played against Albert for a long time when we were both in the National League Central, and he is one of the greatest hitters to ever walk the planet, without question," Angels manager Brad Ausmus said.
"For about 10 years, he was the Mike Trout of his time. It kind of went from Pujols to (Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel) Cabrera and it shifted to Trout. They were all excellent, but Albert's body of work right now is clearly the best."
The latest Pujols milestone in a Hall of Fame career filled with them has rekindled the argument _ fueled by the mountains of advanced statistical data that has emerged in the past decade _ about whether the accumulation of RBIs is driven more by skill or an abundance of opportunities.
"A thousand percent, that's a skill," Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun said. "You get hits, but the game is different when someone is on second base or guys are in scoring position. Watch any game. Guys pitch at 92 to 93 mph, and then a guy gets in scoring position and they are 95 to 97.
"Pitchers step up and don't let runners score. Guys who get RBIs, it's 100 percent a skill. When he comes up in those situations throughout his career, there are not many better guys to have up there."
Pujols was baseball's most feared right-handed hitter during his 11-year career (2001-11) in St. Louis, nicknamed "The Machine" for his persistent power and production while winning three NL most valuable player awards and two World Series titles.
While his performance has tailed off since signing a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Angels before 2012, the numbers over his career suggest that Pujols has always thrived in the clutch.
His career average with runners in scoring position (.313) is 12 points higher than his overall average (.301) and 18 points higher than his average with the bases empty (.295). He has a .317 mark with the bases loaded.
"I've been having this conversation for what feels like the last 15 years with different people," Angels general manager Billy Eppler said. "You try to assess RBIs. They're obviously an outcome that you want. You want to push runs across. You tend to look at RBI opportunities and what the frequency is on capitalizing on those opportunities, because it's not always equitable for everybody.
"But I do think that there's some hitters out there who do have an innate skill to drive a runner in. Usually it comes with high-contact hitters and hitters that can use foul line to foul line, who have the ability to have some bat range and manipulate the barrel."
Ausmus points to another statistic that illuminates Pujols run-producing prowess. With a runner on first base, Pujols has a .304 average, 125 homers and 332 RBIs, meaning he has driven home 207 of those runners with singles, doubles or triples.
"I do think RBIs are a product of opportunity often, but the difference between guys like Mike (Trout) and Albert is they are such good hitters they can constantly drive people in from first base or themselves in when nobody is on," Ausmus said. "That's what makes a good RBI guy. If someone is at second and you hit a single, that's a little easier. Put a guy on second every time for two different players and they have the same average, they're going to get similar RBIs.
"But it's the guy at first you can drive in with a double, or when he's standing in the box by himself and drives himself in. Albert was the best for 10 years. I saw him in his prime, and he was the guy no one wanted to come to the plate in a big situation, or anytime, really. There are some guys who just have a knack for being able to focus more with runners in scoring position."
